authority overview - donatelife

/ 15 Australian Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplantation Authority / Annual Report / 2010–11

Authority overviewOrganisational structure 16Advisory Council 21DonateLife Network 32

/ 16

The Australian Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplantation Authority (the Authority) is a relatively small statutory body which, at 30 June 2011, employed 33.5 full-time-equivalent staff.

The organisational structure of the Authority for 2010–11 shown in Figure 1 reflects the shift in emphasis from the administratively intensive work of establishing

the Authority and the DonateLife Network to consolidating the DonateLife Network and implementing other measures under the National Reform Agenda.

During this period, our Secretariat and Reporting Section and our DonateLife Network Liaison Section were amalgamated into the Liaison and Reporting Section.

Measure 5 Measures 4, 6, 8 & 9 Measure 1

Clinical Programs(CP)

Social Marketing and Communication(SMAC)

Liaison and Reporting(L&R)

Yael CassCHIEF EXECUTIVE

OFFICER

EXECUTIVE SUPPORT

EA TO CEO

RECEPTIONTRAVEL OFFICER

Gerry O'CallaghanNATIONAL MEDICAL

DIRECTOR

DIRECTOR DIRECTOR

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR PROJECTS

PROJECT MANAGER

PROJECT MANAGER

PROJECT OFFICER

PROJECT OFFICER

MARKETING MANAGER

COMMUNICATIONSMANAGER

CREATIVE MANAGER

MARKETING ASSISTANT

FINANCEMANAGER

FINANCE OFFICER

FINANCE ADMINISTRATION

HR MANAGER

HR OFFICER

WEBSITE OFFICER

MARKETING OFFICER

SUPPORT OFFICER

DIRECTOR CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER

SUPPORT OFFICERPROCUREMENT MANAGER

Elizabeth FlynnGENERAL MANAGER

Judy HarrisonA/g CHIEF

FINANCIAL OFFICER

DIRECTOR

Measures 1, 2, 3 & 7

PROJECT MANAGER

MANAGER LIAISON & REPORTING

SENIOR BUSINESSANALYST

PROJECT MANAGER

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR PARL & REPORTING

Corporate Support and Compliance(CSC)

Organisational structure

Figure 1: Organisational structure, 2010–11


Our executive team, including the CEO, National Medical Director, Chief Financial Officer and General Manager, delivered:

an improved focus on implementing the nine measures of the Australian Government’s National Reform Agenda, and

financial and reporting systems and people management that reflect best practice in the Australian Public Service.

Executive team

Measure 5 Measures 4, 6, 8 & 9 Measure 1

Clinical Programs(CP)

Social Marketing and Communication(SMAC)

Liaison and Reporting(L&R)

Yael CassCHIEF EXECUTIVE

OFFICER

EXECUTIVE SUPPORT

EA TO CEO

RECEPTIONTRAVEL OFFICER

Gerry O'CallaghanNATIONAL MEDICAL

DIRECTOR

DIRECTOR DIRECTOR

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR PROJECTS

PROJECT MANAGER

PROJECT MANAGER

PROJECT OFFICER

PROJECT OFFICER

MARKETING MANAGER

COMMUNICATIONSMANAGER

CREATIVE MANAGER

MARKETING ASSISTANT

FINANCEMANAGER

FINANCE OFFICER

FINANCE ADMINISTRATION

HR MANAGER

HR OFFICER

WEBSITE OFFICER

MARKETING OFFICER

SUPPORT OFFICER

DIRECTOR CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER

SUPPORT OFFICERPROCUREMENT MANAGER

Elizabeth FlynnGENERAL MANAGER

Judy HarrisonA/g CHIEF

FINANCIAL OFFICER

DIRECTOR

Measures 1, 2, 3 & 7

PROJECT MANAGER

MANAGER LIAISON & REPORTING

SENIOR BUSINESSANALYST

PROJECT MANAGER

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR PARL & REPORTING

Corporate Support and Compliance(CSC)

/ 18

Ms Yael Cass commenced as CEO of the Authority in February 2011. Her role is to provide leadership and guidance to ensure that Australia achieves world’s best practice in organ and tissue donation for transplantation.

Ms Cass is responsible for providing senior leadership within the Authority and across the DonateLife Network to ensure that the national coordinated approach to increase organ and tissue donation continues to gain traction and delivers outcomes to improve the lives of those Australians, and their families, waiting for transplants. The objective of the CEO and the entire Authority is to: increase capability and capacity within the health system; and to build community awareness and stakeholder engagement across Australia to promote organ and tissue donation.

A lawyer by training, Ms Cass has worked on the development and delivery of national social policy over 25 years – with a principal focus on health and ageing policy and programs, Indigenous affairs, education and training and immigration policy. Over 2008 to 2010, Ms Cass worked in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, including as First Assistant Secretary for Social Policy Division, to support development of the

national health reform agenda between the Commonwealth and state and territory governments.

Before 2008 Ms Cass worked for three years on national blood, organ and tissue donation policy in the Health and Ageing portfolio. In this period she supported the work of the National Clinical Taskforce on Organ and Tissue Donation. This experience provides a strong base for continued engagement with the organ donation and transplantation sectors, stakeholders and the national DonateLife Network.

Chief Executive Officer – Ms Yael Cass


Dr Gerry O’Callaghan, a practising intensive care specialist in Adelaide, has been the National Medical Director since the foundation of the Authority in early 2009.

As the Authority’s clinical head, the National Medical Director leads and promulgates its work in the medical and clinical space, ensuring its work is understood, supported and embraced across these critical sectors. The National Medical Director is pivotal to the Authority’s goal of implementing a world’s best practice approach to organ and tissue donation for transplantation.

Dr O’Callaghan was a member of:

the Australian New Zealand Intensive Care Society (ANZICS) Brain Death and Organ Donation Committee (2006–09), which recently published the third edition of the Statement on Brain Death and Organ Donation

the National Clinical Taskforce on Organ and Tissue Donation (2007–08)

the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Working Party on Ethical Guidelines on Organ and Tissue Donation for Transplantation (2005–06).

He was chair of the Advisory Group to the NHMRC National Organ Donation Collaborative (2006–08), and chair of the Working Group, which has written the National Protocol for Donation after Cardiac Death.

After graduating from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dr O’Callaghan undertook postgraduate training in anaesthesia in Ireland and the United Kingdom. He subsequently trained in intensive care medicine in Australia, gaining fellowship of the College of Intensive Care Medicine in 1997. Dr O’Callaghan’s 20-year career in the sector includes appointments in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Israel and Australia. Dr O’Callaghan became interested in the challenges of facilitating organ donation and the interface with transplantation medicine while working in the Institute of Liver Studies, Kings College Hospital, London.

National Medical Director – Dr Gerry O’Callaghan MB Bch BAO FJFICM FFARCSI

/ 20

Ms Elizabeth Flynn has been the Authority’s General Manager since March 2010. She reports to the CEO and is responsible for delivering the projects that contribute to the nine measures of the government’s National Reform Agenda, and for providing senior leadership to staff within the Authority.

Before joining the Authority, Ms Flynn was an Assistant Secretary with the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator. Her role included coordination of the Regulator’s enforcement and compliance activities, corporate business services, international cooperation, expert advisory committees and legal arrangements.

Ms Flynn has a strong track record in establishing portfolio agencies. She was an integral part of the teams that established the:

National Food Authority (now known as Food Standards Australia New Zealand), for which she won an Australia Day Individual Achievement Award

Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Authority

Office of the Gene Technology Regulator, for which she won an Australia Day Team Achievement Award.

Ms Flynn has qualifications in science (microbiology), public health and government statutory compliance.

Ms Judy Harrison has been acting Chief Financial Officer of the Authority since March 2010.

Ms Harrison provides assurance on the Authority’s financial sustainability, its control framework, and the accuracy of its appropriation bills, budget estimates and financial reporting. The Chief Financial Officer is the principal financial advisor to the Authority’s CEO and executive team.

Ms Harrison was the Director of Financial Reporting and Treasury within the Department of Health and Ageing, a role she held for five years. This role encompassed managing the department’s treasury team and responsibility for both monthly and annual external reporting requirements.

Ms Harrison is a qualified accountant with significant previous financial reporting and financial management experience in both the public and private sectors, including five years’ consulting, five years in the United Kingdom banking sector and audit experience gained in a major chartered accounting firm.

General Manager Ms Elizabeth Flynn

Acting Chief Financial Officer Ms Judy Harrison


The Authority’s foremost governing body is the Australian Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplantation Advisory Council (the Advisory Council). The Advisory Council was established under the Australian Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplantation Authority Act 2008 (the 2008 Act) to advise the CEO about organ or tissue donation and transplantation matters. It is integral to driving the new national approach to increasing Australia’s organ and tissue donation and transplantation rates.

Under the 2008 Act, the Minister for Health and Ageing appoints the Chair and members of the Advisory Council for three-year terms. The Advisory Council comprises a minimum of nine and a maximum of 15 non-governing members, and remuneration and allowances are in line with Remuneration Tribunal determinations.

The Advisory Council brings with it the widest possible perspective to help drive the government’s reforms in this area – from the Chairman’s own experience as a transplant recipient, to a range of stakeholder and consumer interests, health professionals and experts in the field.

The Advisory Council met five times during 2010–11 and provided the CEO with advice on key matters that included:

the Activity-Based Funding model

the Authority’s organisational and committee structure

development of an electronic donor record

the Authority’s data strategy

training for clinical staff making requests for organ donation

review of Donor Family Support resources

implementation of the Transplantation Society of Australia and New Zealand (TSANZ) protocols

integration of the eye and tissue sector into the DonateLife Network

the DonateLife Network media management strategy

strategic priorities for 2011–12.

Advisory Council


Back row: Prof Jeremy Chapman, Anne Cahill Lambert, Assoc Prof Jonathan Gillis, Dr Gerry O’Callaghan, Prof John Horvath, Dr Anthony Cross, Prof Geoff Dobb

Front row: Prof Don Chalmers, Rachael Martin, Sam Chisholm, Yael Cass.

/ 22

Table 1: Advisory Council membership and meeting attendance, 2010–11

Position Name Meetings attended

Chair Mr Sam Chisholm 5/5

Member Dr David Boadle 4/5

Member Ms Anne Cahill Lambert AM 5/5

Member Professor Don Chalmers 5/5

Member Professor Jeremy Chapman OAM 4/5

Member Dr Anthony Cross 2/5

Member Professor Geoff Dobb 5/5

Member Dr Marisa Herson 5/5

Member Professor John Horvath AO 5/5

Member Mr David Koch 3/5

Member Ms Rachael Martin 5/5

Member Dr Gerry O’Callaghan Leave of absence

Member Dr Amanda Rischbieth 1/5 (resigned August 2010)

Member Associate Professor Dianne Stephens OAM 3/5

Member Professor Russell Strong AC 4/5

The practice of issuing a communiqué after each meeting promotes communication of key Advisory Council deliberations. Communiqués are available on the Authority’s website at www.donatelife.gov.au/The-Authority/Our-people/Advisory-Council.html.


Mr Chisholm has been a Director of Telstra, Chairman of Foxtel, Chairman of the Macquarie Radio Network, Director of the Australian Wool Board, CEO and Managing Director of the Nine Network, CEO and Managing Director of British Sky Broadcasting, a Director of News Corporation and Executive Director of Publishing and Broadcasting Limited.

He is Chairman of the Chris O’Brien Lifehouse Centre. He was a director of the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute and then appointed a Life Governor. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the Queensland University of Technology.

Mr Chisholm is the recipient of a bilateral lung transplant.

Dr Boadle graduated from the University of Tasmania in 1980 and practised as a consultant physician specialising in medical oncology and palliative care in the north and north-west of Tasmania from 1988 until 2000.

From 2000 to 2009 Dr Boadle undertook a range of senior management roles, including the Chief Medical Officer for Tasmania. In 2009 Dr Boadle returned to clinical practice as a medical oncologist at the Royal Hobart Hospital.

Ms Cahill Lambert has worked in the health system for more than 30 years, retiring from the position of CEO of Women’s & Children’s Hospitals Australasia following the onset of a terminal lung illness. This gave her the opportunity to consider how the organ and tissue donation and transplant sector operated in a complex multi-jurisdictional environment.

Ms Cahill Lambert is a Council member of the NHMRC, chairing its Consumer Consultative Group.

Retirement has enabled Ms Cahill Lambert to focus on one of her key interests, the building of community. The ACT Government has appointed her to a number of committees, including the Remuneration Tribunal, the ACT Australian of the Year Committee and the Committee of the Community Centenary Funds Initiative.

Ms Cahill Lambert’s educational qualifications include health management and public administration. She has a continuing research interest in governance.

Mr Sam Chisholm (Chairman)

Dr David Boadle Ms Anne Cahill Lambert AM

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Professor Chalmers is a Professor of Law and Director of the Centre for Law and Genetics at the University of Tasmania. He is a Foundation Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law.

Professor Chalmers is Chair of the Gene Technology Ethics and Community Consultative Committee and Deputy Chair of the NHMRC Embryo Research Licensing Committee. He was Chair of the NHMRC Australian Health Ethics Committee from 1994 until 2000.

Internationally, Professor Chalmers is a member of the Human Genome Organisation Ethics Committee and the International Cancer Genome Consortium Data Access Committee.

Professor Chalmers’ current major research interests are in health law and genetics, research ethics and law reform. He has been Chief Investigator on several Australian Research Council research grants and an NHMRC program grant.

Professor Chapman is a renal physician with a special interest in transplantation. He is Director of Acute Interventional Medicine and Renal Services at Sydney’s Westmead Hospital, Clinical Professor in Medicine at the University of Sydney, and Consultant Medical Director to the New South Wales Australian Red Cross Blood Service Tissue Typing Laboratory. He is also Chairman of the Australian Bone Marrow Donor Registry and the Australian Cord Blood Bank Network, and Past President of TSANZ.

On a global level, Professor Chapman is immediate past President of the Transplantation Society, past President and current Secretary General of the World Marrow Donor Association and Chair of the Global Alliance for Transplantation.

Professor Chapman’s clinical work is in renal medicine, transplantation of kidney and pancreas, diabetic renal disease and islet transplantation.

He is currently pursuing research interests in transplantation, tissue typing and xenotransplantation, and has authored over 250 clinical articles.

Dr Cross is an emergency physician based at Box Hill Hospital in Victoria. He is in full time clinical practice and holds a number of positions within the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine. He brings the perspective of emergency clinicians and their patients to the Authority.

Professor Don Chalmers

Professor Jeremy Chapman OAM

Dr Anthony Cross


Professor Dobb is Director of Critical Care at Royal Perth Hospital and Head of the Intensive Care Unit. He is also Clinical Professor in the School of Medicine and Pharmacology at the University of Western Australia.

He is currently Chair of the ANZICS Death and Organ Donation Committee, a member of the Western Australian Transplant Advisory Committee, and he is heavily involved with the Australasian Donor Awareness Program (ADAPT). He is also Vice-President of the Australian Medical Association. Research interests include aspects of the care of potential organ donors.

Professor Dobb has previously been President of ANZICS, the Asia Pacific Association for Critical Care Medicine, and the Australian Medical Association in Western Australia, as well as Treasurer of the World Federation of Societies of Intensive and Critical Care Medicine.

Dr Herson graduated in Medicine (Brazil, 1979) and trained in General and Plastic Surgery in Israel. She returned to Brazil in 1990 and joined the Hospital das Clinicas University of Sao Paulo Plastic Surgery Department. Burn care, both acute and reconstructive surgery, became the focus of her activity.

In 1999 she received a PhD from the Sao Paulo University following research into an innovative skin substitute. She was appointed Associate Professor of Surgery in 2004.

The contribution of skin allografts in burn care was paramount to further involvement in tissue banking, including the establishment and management of the Hospital das Clinicas Tissue Bank.

In 2007 Dr Herson moved to Australia to undertake the role of Head of the Donor Tissue Bank of Victoria (Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine). She was appointed Adjunct Senior Lecturer of the Department of Forensic Medicine at Monash University in 2009.

Professor Horvath is Principal Medical Consultant to the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing and was Chief Medical Officer for the Australian Government from 2003 to 2008. Professor Horvath is Chair of the Health Care Committee of the NHMRC and a member of the Council of the NHMRC. He holds the position of Senior Advisor to the Dean of Medicine, University of Sydney. Professor Horvath is chair or a member of a number of advisory bodies to the Department of Health and Ageing.

Professor Horvath was Professor of Renal Medicine at the University of Sydney and Director Renal Services at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. He was awarded an Order of Australia in January 2001 for his services to medicine.

Professor Geoff Dobb

Dr Marisa Herson Professor John Horvath AO

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Mr Koch is best known as co-host of the Seven TV Network’s breakfast program, Sunrise. His career began as a newspaper finance journalist and he became one of Australia’s leading business journalists and commentators.

In 2007 readers of Banking and Finance magazine named Mr Koch Australia’s Best Finance Journalist. In 2007 he was also recognised as the Small Business Champion by the Council of Small Business of Australia.

Ms Martin is studying a double degree in education and arts. Concurrent to her studies, Ms Martin dedicates her time to working with children with special needs, providing early intervention, family support services and behaviour management courses.

The tragic loss of her brother, Ashley Cooper, at the Clipsal 500 motor race in 2008 led to Ms Martin’s involvement in, and dedication to, organ donation. Ashley was an organ donor and was successful in touching many lives as a result of his gift.

As a teenager, Ms Martin represented Australia on youth leadership issues in the United States and Canada while visiting the United Nations. She was named Young Citizen of the Year on Australia Day 2001.

Mr David Koch Ms Rachael Martin Associate Professor Dianne Stephens OAM

Associate Professor Stephens graduated from the University of Melbourne in 1988 and completed her anaesthesia and intensive care training in Melbourne, moving to Darwin in 1998 as the first Intensive Care Specialist in the Northern Territory. She has built a robust intensive care service at Royal Darwin Hospital with a reputation for high-quality care and outcomes.

In 2001 Associate Professor Stephens established LifeNet NT, the first organ donation agency in the Northern Territory. She is a founding member of the Authority’s Advisory Council and has worked as the Northern Territory Jurisdictional Representative on successive national committees driving reform in the organ donation sector for over 10 years. She has academic interests in improving organ donation knowledge in Indigenous communities, the critical care management of Indigenous people, and the management of disasters, trauma and sepsis, and has published widely in these areas. She has a strong academic, research and teaching record and a reputation for the passionate pursuit of improved outcomes for patients and families.

Associate Professor Stephens currently holds the position of State Medical Director for the Northern Territory.


Professor Strong is a graduate of the University of London. He is a hepatobiliary surgeon and pioneer in liver transplantation in Australia, and was a staff specialist at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane for over 30 years.

Professor Strong has been instrumental in training more than 80 overseas surgeons in advanced hepatobiliary surgery and liver transplantation, and he established and performed the first liver transplants in Australia in 1985. He developed the ‘Brisbane technique’ of reduced-size liver transplantation for children in 1987 and performed the world’s first successful living related liver transplant in 1989.

He has contributed to more than 260 medical literature publications, including authoring 16 book chapters, and was Medical Director of the Queensland Organ and Tissue Agency – Queenslanders Donate (2006–09). In 2010 he was awarded a Knighthood by the King of Malaysia for his services to that country.

Dr Rischbieth has extensive experience and expertise in health in senior management, clinical, education and research roles.

Dr Rischbieth resigned from her position as a member of the Advisory Council in August 2010.

Professor Russell Strong AC

Dr Amanda Rischbieth

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Senior management committees In early 2010 we began a review of the Authority’s committee structure and operations. The aim of the review was to ensure the committee structure continued to align effectively with implementation of the National Reform Agenda and the Authority’s changing needs.

Based on the recommendations of the review, the committee and advisory structure was revised, with several committees being amalgamated or disbanded.

Advisory CouncilThe Advisory Council is a statutory body and the CEO’s premier advisory group (see page 21 for more information).

Audit CommitteeThe Audit Committee, a central governance element for the Authority, was established by the Authority’s CEO in accordance with section 46 of the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997 and the Financial Management and Accountability Orders 2.1.1 and 2.1.2. The role of the Audit Committee is to provide independent assurance and assistance to the CEO to meet the Authority’s responsibilities under the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997, particularly in relation to risk control, compliance frameworks and external accountabilities.

The Audit Committee comprises three independent, external members and met five times in 2010–11. Representatives from the Australian National Audit Office and Authority staff members also attend committee meetings.

Refer to Part 3: Management and Accountability for more information on the Audit Committee.

Table 2 lists the Audit Committee members and the meetings attended in 2010–11.

Table 2: Audit Committee membership and meeting attendance, 2010–11

Position Name Meetings attended

Chair Mr David Koch 5/5

Member Mr Peter Hoefer 5/5

Member Ms Glenys Roper 5/5


The premier governance committee for the DonateLife Network established by the CEO is the combined committee of state medical directors (SMDs) and jurisdictional health department representatives. This group, chaired by the CEO, considers and makes recommendations to the CEO in respect of the strategic priorities, clinical and data governance, planning and leadership of the DonateLife Network, and state-based implementation of the Australian Government’s National Reform Agenda on organ and tissue donation.

The addition of officials from all health departments ensures the efforts of the DonateLife staff reflect state, territory and Australian Government policies and processes, and legislative and funding implications are well understood by

relevant departments, promoting a nationally consistent and coordinated approach to increasing organ donor rates in Australia. The State Medical Directors and Jurisdictional Working Group Committee aims to meet bi-monthly. Five meetings were held in 2010–11.

The practice of issuing a communiqué after each meeting promotes communication of key committee deliberations. Communiqués are available on the Authority’s website at www.donatelife.gov.au/The-Network.html.

State Medical Directors and Jurisdictional Working Group Committee


Back row: Jayanti Gupta, Victoria Nesire, Dr Kevin Yuen, Dr Phil Sargent, Dr Greg Hollis, Craig Kennedy, Yael Cass, Assoc Prof Dianne Stephens, Amanda Nesbitt, Dr Andrew Turner

Front row: Diana Salvaris, Ruth Power, Dr Robert Herkes, Dr Sally Tideman, Dr Helen Opdam, Assoc Prof Jonathan Gillis and Donna Burton.

/ 30 / 30

Figure 2: National Communications Charter


Charter signatoriesThe premier engagement mechanism for the non-government sector and the community is the group of signatories to our National Communications Framework and Charter. This is a key mechanism to ensure the Authority provides accurate, consistent information to the community through a coordinated, national communications framework.

The Authority has a large range of stakeholders, including:

consumer groups

professional and peak bodies involved in donation and transplantation

Australian Government agencies and authorities

state and territory health departments and hospitals.

See Appendix 1 for more information about the DonateLife National Communications Framework and Charter and the list of charter signatories.

Purpose-specific groupsPurpose-specific groups are established by the CEO from time to time. For example:

the Eye and Tissue Working Group was established in 2010–11 to develop options for more effective eye and tissue retrieval, processing and storage

it was decided to establish a Clinical Governance Committee comprising all state medical directors and DonateLife Agency clinical managers to pursue specific clinical issues relevant to the work of the DonateLife Network in 2011–12

a Transplant Liaison Reference Group will also be established in 2011–12 to provide advice to the CEO and ensure engagement with the transplant sector on transplantation issues relevant to the National Reform Agenda.

Figure 3 shows the committee structure for 2010–11.

CHIEF EXECUTIVEOFFICER

ADVISORY COUNCIL

PURPOSE-SPECIFICGROUPS

CHARTERSIGNATORIES

AUDIT COMMITTEESTATE MEDICAL

DIRECTORS AND JURISDICTIONAL

WORKING GROUP COMMITTEE

Figure 3: Committee structure, 2010–11

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As part of the National Reform Agenda, state and territory governments agreed to the establishment of a national network of DonateLife Agencies and employment of specialist hospital medical directors and hospital senior nurses for organ and tissue donation.

Additionally, all jurisdictions agreed to employing state or territory medical directors charged with the responsibility of managing these staff in each jurisdiction, with a goal of increasing organ and tissue donation for transplantation across Australia.

SMDs lead the organ and tissue donation sector in each jurisdiction. The leaders liaise with the Authority and one another regularly to drive clinical practice change to increase organ and tissue donation rates. The National Medical Director is responsible for leading this group of dedicated health professionals.

The DonateLife Agencies employ specialist staff in organ and tissue donation coordination, professional education, support of donor families, communications, and data and audit roles.

Specialist hospital staff are employed to facilitate the organ and tissue donation process and to educate and support the hospital staff involved.

Organ donation coordinators and hospital-based staff work closely together to facilitate organ and tissue donation at the hospital level and are accountable for their performance to the SMDs and to the Authority.

The DonateLife Agencies, specialist hospital staff and the Authority comprise the DonateLife Network (see Figure 4). The DonateLife Network shares information, builds on existing knowledge, develops

expertise and solves problems in a collaborative and supportive manner.

In 2010–11 there was continued growth and consolidation of the DonateLife Network. At the end of June 2011 the DonateLife Network comprised 233 staff, including 162 clinical specialists of organ and tissue donation in 77 hospitals across Australia and 71 staff in eight specialist DonateLife Agencies.

The DonateLife Network Annual Forum in March 2011 provided an opportunity for DonateLife Network staff to meet and share their learning and ideas.

During 2010–11 we worked with the DonateLife Network and state and territory health departments to, among other things:

establish and implement Business Management Plans across each state and territory, against which they submit progress reports to the Authority each quarter

collate, for the first time, a complete set of national audit data to assess performance against national, jurisdictional and peer-hospital levels

establish the inaugural professional training and development scholarship program in memory of Janette Hall

fund Donor Family Support coordinators in every jurisdiction to provide ongoing support for families

support the staging of the inaugural DonateLife Week, including the launch of the DonateLife Book of Life.

DonateLife Network


DonateLife Network Forum 2011


/ 34

WA DonateLifeAgency

Organ and Tissue Authority

STATE MEDICALDIRECTOR

AGENCYMANAGER

QLD DonateLifeAgency


AGENCYMANAGER

NSW DonateLifeAgency


AGENCYMANAGER

ACT DonateLifeAgency


AGENCYMANAGER

VIC DonateLifeAgency


AGENCYMANAGER

TAS DonateLifeAgency


AGENCYMANAGER

SA DonateLifeAgency


AGENCYMANAGER

NT DonateLifeAgency


AGENCYMANAGER

AdvisoryCouncil

Organ and Tissue Donation Agency (71 staff approximately)

DonateLife Network (233 staff approximately)

77 Hospitals (162 staff approximately)

Hospital Medical Directors (HMD) Hospital Senior Nurse (HSN)

DonateLife AgenciesUnder the leadership of the SMDs, DonateLife Agencies are responsible for implementing the National Reform Agenda in their respective state or territory. Key areas of responsibility, under our national leadership, include:

the reform of the hospital system within each state and territory so that all potential organ and tissue donations are identified and potential donor families are well supported

communication and collaboration across the agency network to maximise transplantation access and outcomes

community awareness and education activities that promote the life-saving and life-transforming benefits of organ and tissue donation, and the importance of family consent in the donation process

professional education strategies for specialist hospital-based staff in organ and tissue donation.

Throughout 2010–11 SMDs and representatives of state and territory governments and the Authority worked together to knit individual jurisdictions into a cohesive national network with a shared vision, mission and purpose.

State medical directorsTable 3 lists the SMDs for each jurisdiction.

Table 3: State medical directors, 2010–11

State Medical Director

ACT Dr Imogen Mitchell

NSW A/Prof Jonathan Gillis

NT A/Prof Dianne Stephens

QLD Dr Phil Sargent

SA Dr Sally Tideman

TAS Dr Andrew Turner

VIC Dr Helen Opdam

WA Dr Kevin Yuen

Figure 4: DonateLife Network, 2010–11


The SMDs, individually and as a part of the national network, are critical to the success of the National Reform Agenda. They oversee organ and tissue donation processes and ensure consistency of practice within their jurisdictions. Specifically, the SMDs are responsible and accountable for:

overseeing implementation of clinical practice reform by hospital medical directors and hospital senior nurses, including standardising adoption of endorsed clinical protocols within emergency departments and intensive care units, and education and professional programs

providing peer support to, and coordinating, a jurisdictional network

of hospital medical directors and hospital senior nurses

directing the jurisdiction’s DonateLife Agency, including taking ultimate responsibility for operational and financial management

reporting at a jurisdictional level against the performance targets and goals we set

liaising with their jurisdiction’s eye and tissue banks and transplantation and retrieval sectors.

Each SMD has contributed to jurisdictional activities during 2010–11. These contributions, and biographies of each SMD, are included in Part 2 of this report.

WA DonateLifeAgency

Organ and Tissue Authority


AGENCYMANAGER

QLD DonateLifeAgency


AGENCYMANAGER

NSW DonateLifeAgency


AGENCYMANAGER

ACT DonateLifeAgency


AGENCYMANAGER

VIC DonateLifeAgency


AGENCYMANAGER

TAS DonateLifeAgency


AGENCYMANAGER

SA DonateLifeAgency


AGENCYMANAGER

NT DonateLifeAgency


AGENCYMANAGER

AdvisoryCouncil

Organ and Tissue Donation Agency (71 staff approximately)

DonateLife Network (233 staff approximately)

77 Hospitals (162 staff approximately)

Hospital Medical Directors (HMD) Hospital Senior Nurse (HSN)

authority overview - donatelife

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